365x5

I've gone to Winnipeg for my 25th high school reunion. I can't believe how quickly 25 years have gone by, but here we are. Winnipeg is not really a walking city — it's more of a driving city. I've had to rent a car for the weekend. It's the kind of city where you drive to a park to go for a walk. So that's what I'm going to do while I'm here. It will give me a chance to go back to some of the other places I spent a lot of time at while growing up here.Today I went walking in King's Park, which is in Fort Richmond, fairly near my high school. It's also just down the road from where my best friend from high school lived. It's a big park, with some groomed parts, some parts that feel wild, a pond with bridges to a little island, lots of paths around it, and it's on the shore of the Red River. There's also a new walking labyrinth in the park, in memory of author Carol Shields (who was from Winnipeg). Near the labyrinth is a wall with quotes from some of Shield's novels. I saw one, in particular, that really stuck with me:

At the edge of every experience is the refracted light of recollection, snagged there like an image in a bevelled mirror.​–The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields

This is what I'm experiencing this weekend. I'm in this place, but the memories of my life are snagged around the edges of everything, of every conversation, every place I go, everyone and everything I see. Even the smell of Winnipeg, which I can't describe, throws me back to being 9 years old. Slipping on the sidewalk because it has gravel on it, leftover from the winter sanding of the streets: I'd forgotten about that until I felt the crunch under foot.I've also brought with me a book: Awake in the World, by Michael Stone. This book, subtitled Teachings from Yoga and Buddhism for Living an Engaged Life, is his reflections on life and work being human. Reading this book is helping to keep me grounded in this moment, in this weekend, and to have fun with everyone.

I've been walking to and from the gym a couple of mornings a week. This morning it was raining, and I thought about getting on the bus. But I grabbed my new umbrella (it's orange on the inside!) and headed out the door. On the walk home, the sidewalks were covered in worms. Worms! I hadn't seen worms yet this year, but it was another sign of spring, one we only see when it rains, or maybe when we're gardening. And I started thinking of all the gardening I'm going to be doing soon, and that was a wonderful thought. The squatting, the digging, the planting. And then the harvesting and eating. Mmmm.There's supposed to be a lot of rain in the next few days (weeks?), but don't let that stop you from getting outside. Remember — you won't melt, and you might see something wonderful.

I've been a terrible blogger. My apologies. I don't even know what to label this post, without getting out a calendar and counting. So let's just call it Spring — Day 1. The first day of Spring; a good time to start anew.

Something happens to me in the winter months. January and February are especially bad. It's dark and cold, but here in Toronto it's also wet and mucky. It's the worst. It's the worst of both worlds — dark winter, and mucky spring, all at once. On the upside, by the time the light starts to change, the weather is getting warmer, and we're usually back to good walking weather.

On Family Day (yes, all the way back on February 20th — a month ago today) I dragged my family out for a walk in Rouge Park. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We started out full of smiles and hope. The path quickly turned to muck (in the sunshine) and slippery, frozen-ness in the shade. I had one kid give up 2/3 of the way to the mid-point (it was a walk out, turn around, walk back hike). I was wearing my new Vibrams, 5-finger toes, and my feet were wet from the mud, and then cold from the snow. By the time we were back to the car, the kids were comparing it to the time their father and I "made" them climb Sulphur Mountain in a snow storm (that's a story for another post).

It's interesting to notice my aversion to hiking in the yucky weather. I've watched other people posting things about acclimatizing to colder weather, about enjoying getting outside, and I haven't enjoyed it. I've walked, because I said I would, but it has not been enjoyable. What is that about? Patañjali talks about attachments, and the inherent suffering in them. But he also talks about aversion (dvesha). It is one of the five kleshas, or obstacles to our peace. We fall into a dualistic worldview: here's the stuff I like, and here's the stuff I dislike. When the stuff we like is around us, we're ok. When they stuff we dislike is around us, we're not ok. It becomes the internal story we tell ourselves about our lives.

I did try to take care of myself these past, dark months. I made myself get outdoors, and I knit. I knit a lot. I recognized that I was being affected by the weather, and I did what I needed to keep going. And now it's spring, officially today, and I'm feeling myself perking up. So, I'll try to start blogging regularly again. Thanks for your patience. I'm a work in progress, but aren't we all?

Another wonderful winter walk today. I got to break out my mukluks for their first trip to Rouge Park. It was snowing gently most of our hike, but it just made for a quiet, winter wonderland. It was a little too cold for bare feet today, but I did take off my toque and gloves for a while when the breeze died down. I think that the photos today say it all. Enjoy!

It's getting colder outside. And my nose is not liking this. Is anyone else having this trouble? Breathing the cold, dry air through my nose sends it running. Not away, although I'm sure it would if it could, but with mucus to try to protect my poor nose. I end up sniffing the whole walk. Breathing though my nose becomes very difficult.

My poor raw nose! In an act of desperation I Googled what to do for a dry nose. Not surprisingly, the best suggestion I found was to apply coconut oil. Put some on a Q-Tip and rub it around the inside of your nostril. It sounds strange, I know, but it feels so good on my sad nose. And, as a side note, for a while, it smells like I'm on a tropical vacation!

I've tried this for a few days now, and it's making my outdoor walks so much more enjoyable. Coconut oil — good for so many things. Thanks from me, and my nose.

100 days of walking! It means I'm 20/73 of the way there. So we celebrated today with an extra-long hike through Rouge Park. For those who know the park (or who care to look at the map), we started with the Cedar Trail (there and back), and then we walked the Orchard Trail and the Vista Trail. We were gone so long that the kids called to check up on us.

What have I learned about walking so far? Well, I feel better when I'm walking. Not just while I'm actually walking, but it spills out into the rest of my day. I feel more grounded (especially if I've been able to walk barefoot), more calm, more energized for the other parts of my life, my work, my family. I don't feel as cold as I used to. This is a big deal for me. I have always "run cold," but since I've been spending more time outside (and I think being barefoot has something to do with this, too, but I don't know why) I find I'm not as cold as I used to feel. My body seems to be able to regulate my temperature with more efficiency. I haven't gotten sick this fall. I teach yoga classes all the time where someone is sneezing or coughing. Most people stay away when they know they are sick, but we're usually contagious before we get sick. Somehow, I haven't gotten sick. Now, I think I caught something a couple of times — I could feel that my body was fighting something — but I didn't actually get sick. Since the only thing I've really changed this fall is the walking, I'm going to give it this one.

As we walked, we talked about all of this, and more. If we feel better, get sick less often, and have more energy by adding what is usually less than an hour of outdoor movement each day, why doesn't everyone do this? Many people don't seem to have time. I'm not going to judge people's schedules, but we often choose to do things to relax at the end of the day when we're tired. We talked about things that we've chosen to do in the past: video games, Netflix, catching up on social media, watch a movie, read a book, knit. None of these things are bad, and in fact some of them are great, and many of them I do regularly. But if I had to give up an episode (yes, another episode) of my favourite show I'm currently streaming on Netflix, that would be a good trade-off for my body.

I think that if I had to choose between working 4 long days and getting 3 days off, with working 6 shorter days only getting 1 day off, I would choose the latter. Spending less time at work each day, and adding more of what's important every day makes more sense to me than sectioning off work days from rest days. When given full days off, it's easy to fill them up with errands or busyness, I find. But when I have just a few hours, I can choose to do some things that need doing, and a couple of things I want to do. Adding movement and outdoor time might be easier for us all if we had more time daily.

My daughter plays volleyball on her high school team, and amidst the busyness of my day I went to watch her play their first game of the season. It was at a school I'd never been to, so I went on a walking adventure to get there. I got to walk through a posh neighbourhood that I might never have ventured into, past some beautiful homes. It was cool and damp, but I enjoyed the brisk air on my face. A little boy who had been with his sister and babysitter (looked too young to be their mother) wisked past me on his scooter. Another little boy wished his friend well as she was off to tryouts for something. I noticed how in some neighbourhoods where, perhaps people drive more than walk, some intersections aren't very safe for pedestrians — no clear place to cross the street, not enough sidewalks, sometimes no stop sign at a corner — and how some drivers were surprised to see a pedestrian trying to cross the street.

Walking is this wonderful thing that we spend the first year of our lives trying to learn to do. Holding our heads up, rolling over, sitting, getting on to our hands and knees, crawling, cruising, walking while holding someone's hands, and finally all on our own. It's a big moment. But it seems that as soon as we've learned to walk, we're trying to figure out how to do less of it. Putting little ones in strollers and car seats. Getting kids on bikes and skateboards and scooters. I have no issue with any of these things, except that we often stop valuing walking as soon as it's accomplished. In these past months of walking, I've been noticing how few people walk, and how much I love my times out propelling my own body around on my own two feet.

I found the school, and then found the gym inside the maze that is that school. I couldn't sit on the bleachers for long, and found myself sitting on the floor, much to my daughter's surprise. I was squatting, and side-sitting, and sitting cross-legged, changing my position every once in a while. She shouldn't really be surprised by me and my movement habits at this point, I figured. My daughter's team lost, but they played well. And she opened the third game with four amazing serves in a row (I'm a proud mama). I'm glad that I was there, and I'm grateful that I was able to get there by taking a walk.

We got up early and went out to the park for a sunrise walk. Ok, honestly that's what we wanted to do, but we slept in a little and the sun was rising as we were driving there, but it was cloudy, so it's not that we missed a spectacular sunrise in the woods. It was still very early when we arrived, and there was only one other car at the entrance to the trails. We took a trail we haven't been on before, and we were so very glad that we did. It was a beautiful walk that began next to a pond and wound its way through a cedar forest, over a river, up and down some lovely, rustic stairs, through a glen. We saw a deer, a young buck, and he saw us from 30 feet away and took off into the brush and trees. We watched geese as they were taking off and landing, watching how they manoeuvred through the sky, changing positions, formations (if you've read Katy Bowman's newest book Movement Matters, you'll understand why I was so interested in the geese in particular). I think that we walked about 6km. It was all beautiful, but it was cold. There was a wind this morning that could cut through nearly any clothing. We were protected some of the time in the woods, but gusts would come up and chill us still. I had brought tea along, and was grateful for the warmth. When we got home, it had snowed (although it hadn't snowed in the park). Winter has arrived.

After a cup of tea together at a favourite local coffee shop, I went for a walk with a friend. And I'm so glad that I did! It was 16C (which is about 60F), and it was sunny and glorious. We talked, like friends do, about life. We also talked about alignment in walking, as that's what we were doing. When I left her and started heading home, I couldn't resist but taking my shoes off and walking barefoot. I walked through the park, over a bridge, through the other half of the park. It was only when I got to the street did I think it might be a good idea to put my shoes back on. I'm so glad that I did that today, as the next couple of days the weather is going to turn, with flurries on Sunday. I'm grateful for the beautiful fall that we've had here this year, but I'm going to do my best to enjoy the winter as it comes.

It's been a really busy few days, with quick, functional walks, getting to and from places. But this morning, even though it was a busy day, we got up early and drove to the woods. Maddie was awake, so she came with us. It was beautiful and sunny, although it was only +4C. We saw a deer (and it saw us and froze in place). I couldn't get a good picture of it because, not moving, it blended into the trees. We climbed on trees, and lay down on the layer of soft leaves (I could have taken a nap!). We took our shoes off and walked barefoot for a while. Interestingly, my feet were colder IN my shoes, than OUT of my shoes. Also interesting, but after having had my bare feet on the ground, the rest of me was quite warm for the rest of the day (and I usually run a little bit cold). Just another beautiful walk with some of my wonderful family. If you get a chance, check out the moon! We went to the beach last night to see it — it's the closest it's been to the earth since 1948, and it won't be this close again until 2034. Don't miss out!

Jennifer SnowDon

I'm a Yoga Teacher in Toronto who's investigating healthy movement for the body. As a part of this exploration, I've decided to do more intentional movement, including walking 5km (3.1miles or about an hour) each day. I'm going to blog as I go, with photos and videos, maybe some insights into functional movement, and some inspiration for your own walking challenge. Leave comments here and let me know how your walking is going!